1. Technical Field
Various embodiments of the present disclosure generally relate to an integrated circuit and a method of operating the integrated circuit, and more particularly to a memory device capable of performing a program operation and a method of operating the memory device.
2. Related Art
A memory system may include a memory device for storing data and a memory controller for controlling the overall operation of the memory device.
The memory device may include a memory cell array for storing information therein, peripheral circuits for performing program, read, and erase operations on selected memory blocks, and control circuits for controlling the peripheral circuits.
The memory cell array may include a plurality of main memory blocks, and, when a program operation is performed, a main memory block may be selected. For example, in response to a program command, the control logic may select a main memory block on which a program operation is to be performed from among the main memory blocks, and control the peripheral circuits so that the program operation is performed on the selected main memory block.
During a program operation, the amount of data loaded into a memory device may vary. However, the sizes of the main memory blocks are the same as one another regardless of the data sizes they store. If the data size is small, therefore, the selected main memory block uses only a small portion of its storage space. As a result, the data storage efficiency of the memory device may deteriorate.
In general, erase operations are performed on memory block basis. In order to reuse the main memory block already having data in some of its storage space, therefore, an erase operation must be performed on the entire storage space of the main memory block. As a result, the entire storage space of the main memory block may be degraded with repeated erase cycles.